: Support :   home > support > shell account faq : this is the frequently asked questions page for shell accounts. what is a shell account? a shell account is access to a unix shell on another machine. with a shell account you can log into our server and run commands on it. why would i want a shell account? shell accounts are great for reading your mail from anywhere using text based email readers such as mutt or pine. you can go on irc with a unix irc client on our servers. you can play games. you can edit your webpage files directly on the server. you can run scripts. you can learn unix. etc. how do i access my shell account? you access your shell account via ssh. ssh is a program similar to telnet, which will give you access to the shell on the remote machine. it is better than telnet because it uses encryption, meaning your password and text are not transmitted in clear text. if you do not have ssh, feel free to download ssh from our ssh page.   top of page ^   < back to support page